FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                  November 1, 2004

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and New York Academy of Sciences

Contact: Erik Manuel Giblin (202) 463-7575 x 226 or giblin@rfkmemorial.org, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights; Fred Moreno (212) 838-0230 x230 or fmoreno@nyas.org, New York Academy of Sciences

Alarming Move by Vietnamese Government:

1995 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Laureate and Prisoner of Conscience

Dr. Nguyen Dan Que Transferred to Remote and Hostile Prison

In violation of human rights standards protected by international law, the Vietnamese Government abruptly transferred 1995 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Laureate and recipient of the New York Academy of Sciences 2004 Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award, Dr. Nguyen Dan Que to Ward 5 Prison of the Public Security Ministry, an isolated and hostile hard-labor camp in the City of Labor Unity Camp, County Yen Dinh, Province of Thanh Hoa on September 22, 2004.  This prison, located about 930 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City and 120 miles south of Hanoi, served as a re-education camp for former south Vietnamese soldiers known as “Lam Son.”  According to 1995 Human Rights Laureate Dr. Doan Viet Hoat, who was also imprisoned in Thanh Hoa Province, this jail is now known as a hard labor camp for criminals.  A few days before Dr. Que’s relocation, the Vietnamese authorities instructed his wife to meet with him for only 15 minutes to provide much needed money and medicine prior to his transfer, of which Dr. Que was previously unaware.  Since his transfer, his wife has sent three letters to Vietnamese authorities requesting to visit him.  She has received no reply.  Born in 1942, Dr. Que is now 62 years old, suffers from high blood pressure, kidney stones and peptic ulcers.

By transferring Dr. Que to a remote labor camp hundreds of miles away from his family, the Vietnamese Government has violated his right to receive family visitations and adequate medical and psychological care, in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984, to which Viet Nam is a signatory.  Prior to his transfer, Dr. Que’s family had not been allowed to regularly see him since he was arbitrarily detained on March 17, 2003 and held incommunicado for 16 months for sending an email message three days earlier criticizing the Vietnamese Government.  On July 29, 2004, in a sham trial that lasted only two hours and was closed to all outsiders except for his wife, the Government charged Dr. Que with violating Article 258 of the Criminal Code of Viet Nam for allegedly abusing “democratic freedom to infringe upon the interest of the State,” and subsequently sentenced him to 30 months in prison. 

In this context, the Center for Human Rights and the New York Academy of Sciences, as well as the friends, allies, and civil society partners of Dr. Que, strongly urge the Government of Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release him.  The Center for Human Rights and the New York Academy of Sciences also urge the United States Government and the international community to call on the Vietnamese Government to cease its campaign of unfounded arrests, convictions and harsh treatment of those within the Vietnamese penal system as well as ensure that all defendants in Viet Nam are given their rights to counsel, a fair and open trial and visitation.  Additionally, we call on the Vietnamese Government, the United States, and international community to ensure that all in Viet Nam may exercise their right to freedom of expression, a right enshrined in the Vietnamese Constitution and protected under international law.

Doctor Nguyen Dan Que, Founder of the Nonviolent Movement for Human Rights, has spent more than 20 years in prison for advocating for improvements in democracy and human rights in Vietnam. An endocrinologist, Dr. Que was detained without trial between 1978 and 1988, after he criticized national health care policy. After his release he set up a democratic rights movement, but was arrested in 1990 and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.  After spending eight years in solitary confinement and under inhumane conditions, including lack of adequate medical treatment, international pressure from human rights organizations such as our own led to his release in 1998 through a general amnesty.  However, the Government placed Dr. Que under 24 hour house arrest following his release and held him there until his arrest once again on March 17, 2003.

In November of 1995, the Center for Human Rights presented Dr. Que with the RFK Human Rights Award for his bravery in continually advocating, at great personal risk, for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Vietnamese people.  Dr. Que has also received international recognition for his heroic efforts as a human rights advocate and writer, earning the 1993 Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Award and several nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 2004.  In 2002, Human Rights Watch honored Dr. Que with a Hellman-Hammett Grant, an international award for writers who have been victims of political persecution, for his founding of “The Future,” a human rights review that began circulating in 2000 secretly in Viet Nam and openly around the world.  Most recently, Dr. Que was awarded The Northcote Parkinson Fund 2004 Certificate for Distinction in Civial Courage.  He was also named the recipient of the New York Academy of Sciences 2004 Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award "in recognition of his courage and singular moral responsibility as a medical doctor...and for peacefully promoting human rights in Vietnam."